"THE KNIFE WAS NOW IN HIS HAND, HOWEVER, AND THE DEVOTED VICTIM LAY BEFORE HIM"

[SIMMS, William Gilmore]. Mellichampe. A Legend of the Santee. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. Two volumes. Octavo, original green cloth, original paper spine labels, uncut. $950.

First edition of one of Simms novels of the revolutionary war, in original cloth.

Known best today as a fierce pro-slavery partisan, William Gilmore Simms is one of the founders of the southern school of literature in America; Edgar Allan Poe at one point proclaimed him "the best novelist which this country has, on the whole, produced." Mellichampe is one of a series of eight novels written by Simms set in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War; it focuses on the career of military hero Francis Marion, "The Desert Fox"; Simms also produced an influential history of Marion in 1840. BAL 18057. Owner signatures.

Scattered foxing to text, cloth in exceptional condition, with a bit of wear to paper spine labels. A near-fine copy.